We truly are in an “Information Age.” Desktop computers, laptop computers, netbooks, personal data assistants (PDAs) and cell phones have us connected to one another (and to other computers) more than ever before. Even pre-Information Age devices like automobiles are now connecting to a network (e.g., cellular phone network) and offering amazing new functions and services.
The growing variety of service offerings on networks such as the Internet has led to a growing demand being placed on the hardware infrastructure that supports those networks. The support devices in those networks—routers, servers, etc.—have to support an ever-growing number of end users and their own information-hungry devices, and this heavy load has strained, and sometimes overloaded, those support devices. An overloaded support device might cause unsatisfactory delays in service, or render some services completely unavailable, and there is an ever-present need to avoid such an overload situation.